LAS VEGAS 
Mobile technology is not only redefining industries, it is also reshaping the way we live, with more people staying connected with each other, the Internet and all their entertainment and information.

That trend of mobility is going nowhere but up, said Qualcomm Chief Executive and Chairman Paul Jacobs at the opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, as analysts estimate 5 billion smartphones will be sold worldwide from 2012 to 2016.

“There are more than 6.4 billion mobile connections worldwide, almost as many mobile connections as there are people on Earth, and pretty soon, mobile connections are going to outnumber us,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs delivered the preshow keynote speech at International CES for the first time this year, a prestigious slot filled for the past 14 years by either Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer of Microsoft.

Putting Jacobs in the role served as a coming-out party of sorts for San Diego-based Qualcomm, which designs chips that power smartphones, tablets and other gadgets but doesn’t actually sell products directly to consumers.

But much like Intel’s advertising campaigns for its chips, Qualcomm aims to become a household name as an ingredient brand that consumers recognize when purchasing electronics gear. Its Snapdragon application processors power 500 devices on the market today and are being designed into 400 others now under development, Jacobs said.

“If you use a 3G or a 4G device, that’s Qualcomm technology in your pocket, in your purse, in your briefcase and in your home,” he said.

And Jacobs came with the goods. Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 800 Series processor — a quad core chip that’s more powerful than previous Snapdragons and has 75 percent better battery performance than its other top line Snapdragons. The chip is as powerful as the ones in many of today’s laptops. For consumers, it ups the performance in everything from smartphones to tablets to TVs to cars. For Qualcomm, the new processor pushes them deeper into head-to-head competition with Intel in computers. Products should start shipping with the chip this summer.

Ballmer said Windows 8 was gaining traction with app developers. “There are now four times the number of applications than we had when Windows 8 launched four months ago,” Ballmer said. “There were 10,000 apps added in the last month alone.”

Qualcomm has spent about $20 billion in research over the past decade to build the technology foundation for the growth in mobile communications.

The wireless giant is betting on further growth, led by smartphones, computing going mobile, surging demand for wireless data and everything from vehicles to appliances to health monitors being wirelessly connected to the Internet.